[28 April 2010]
Customer satisfaction for Retail and Info-Communications sectors
Retail sector registers a better showing, boosted by higher levels of customer satisfaction especially among tourists while Info-Communications sector continues its downward slide.
Singapore, 28 April 2010 (Wednesday) – The Institute of Service Excellence at the Singapore Management University (ISES) (???????) releases today findings for the first quarter release of the Customer Satisfaction Index of Singapore (CSISG) 2010 for two sectors: Retail and Info-Communications. Making a significant recovery from a three-year downward slide since 2007, the Retail sector rebounded from a low 65.8 in 2009 to 68.2 points this year. On the other hand, the Info-Communications sector continued its decline in customer satisfaction score, plunging to an all-time low of 64.4 from 66.4 in 2009.
Greater satisfaction among customers, especially tourists, with the Retail sector contributed to its better performance this time. Both locals and tourists were significantly more satisfied with the Retail sector this year compared to the previous year. In general, customers' expectations were better met this year in sub-sectors within the Retail sector, especially for Departmental Stores, Supermarkets and Motor Vehicles sub-sectors, according to the study.
The analysis of the Info-Communications sector, which did not manage to reverse its downward trend for the fourth consecutive year, showed that customers from the Mobile Telecom and Internet Service Providers sub-sectors felt that companies had failed to meet their expectations. The two-point drop in satisfaction in the Info-Communications sector is reflected in corresponding decrease of 1.9 and 1.6 points in the Mobile Telecom and Internet Service Providers sub-sectors respectively.
Unhappy customers in the Info-Communications sector are more than double that in the Retail sector. This is backed by two observations in CSISG 2010. Of those surveyed, 6.3% filed complaints with companies in the Info-Communications sector compared to only 1.5% in the Retail sector. Of those who did not complain, more in the Info-Communications sector (5.6%) compared to the Retail sector (2.9%) indicated that it was either too difficult to complain or there was no point in complaining, pointing to a lack of confidence in the company's policy, systems and processes to perform service recovery and repair relationship with unhappy customers.
CSISG 2010 found, across both the Retail and Info-Communications sectors, that customers who felt it was too difficult to complain or decided that there was no point in complaining had much lower customer loyalty scores compared to those who did not complain because they had no reason to do so. Complainants, whose complaints to companies were handled well, had higher customer loyalty scores than those whose complaints were handled poorly. As a recommendation to secure higher customer loyalty, companies should consider putting in place effective feedback channels, being responsive and efficient in handling complaints and implementing comprehensive service recovery procedures. This way, even though customers complain because they are dissatisfied, customer loyalty remains high when the complaints are well-handled. With an effective complaint management system, companies get a second chance to convert unhappy customers into satisfied and loyal customers.
Said Assistant Professor Marcus Lee (???), Academic Director, ISES: “The stellar performance of the Retail sector this year highlights to companies the benefits of working on the areas that their customers care about. For companies to remain profitable, customer expectations, perceived quality, and perceived value, all need to be purposefully designed and managed. And the first step to doing this well is for each company to understand the requirements of its target consumers.”
Said Ms Caroline Lim (???), Director, ISES: “Effective complaint handling has consistently come up across several years of CSISG measurement as an important takeaway for companies and businesses. We would like to propose for companies to see customer complaints as an inspiration for generating even more innovative ideas. ISES will be discussing more of this at our next industry conference on the theme of service innovation from July 21 to 22. Business leaders and any interested members of the industry are welcome to join us for an exchange of ideas and insights.”
CSISG will continue to serve as a consistent benchmark for our key economic sectors to track our performance over time and a barometer on how Singapore fares globally. Companies can tap on CSISG – through corporate subscription and custom research – as a strategic business tool to gain valuable insights about customer satisfaction, benchmark against competitors and make better business decisions.
Please refer to the following Annexes for details:
? Annex A : Background on CSISG
About the Institute of Service Excellence at SMU
The Institute of Service Excellence at the Singapore Management University (ISES) is the cornerstone of an initiative to raise Singapore's service standards and promote a culture of service excellence. Working in close collaboration with government agencies and business leaders, ISES champions service excellence through an integrated approach that encompasses benchmarking and analysis, research and thought leadership, and industry engagement. www.smu.edu.sg/centres/ises
